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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
Originally posted at yAdult Review
This book was never on my radar, which is actually really weird to say. Between various internet websites, listservs, being at my library, my used book store, working at a library, it is hard to say that this book wasn’t on my radar. But it wasn’t, and then I went to the ALA YALSA breakfast and I met Paul Rudnick. His passionate speech about his book put it on my radar. I quickly wrote down his name and this book and couldn’t wait to read it. And then I read my friends reviews and I found out that this book fell into two camps: you love it/you hate it.
I am pretty firmly in camp love. Adore. Becky’s narration is spot on epic and it isn’t typical YA narration. She is snarky, she has a mouth on her and she isn’t afraid to use it. I found her to be a completely realistic, particularly for what was going on in her life: something completely UN-realistic. I found her humor to be a lot like mine. It’s quirky. You’re either going to love it or hate it. Much like Becky herself. There were times I wanted to slap her and tell her to figure her shit out and then I remembered being 18. Being 18 is hard enough. Being 18, having your mother just die, and leaving middle of nowhere Missouri for New York City is a change.
At first, Becky is given this red dress, this red dress that doesn’t make her feel different at all. Then she hears the gasps and she looks into the mirror and notices how “beautiful” she is. At that exact moment she decided she is “Rebecca” of course with her inner dialogue we, the reader, knows she is still Becky, not full of the confidence she exudes.
I enjoyed the bits of Becky being Rebecca, because inside she was constant “WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON” and that, to me, was extremely realistic. It was stupid to her that people were treating her differently because she didn’t completely get it. And then Jate entered the picture. Jate, the famous movie star who asks her to be part of his picture and to be his girlfriend. Because Jate has a secret of his own. So they work with each other. Through Jate and the magic dress, Becky is able to meet Prince Gregory, the future King of England.
Prince Gregory, who Becky, not Rebecca, starts to fall in love with. It’s hard to tell who Gregory is falling in love with. Is he falling in love with Rebecca, the beautiful girl, or Becky the snarky personality. This of course comes to a pivotal moment in the book, in which Becky figures important things out for herself.
To me, this book worked in part due to the narrator. I am not sure I could have handled reading it because it was that whimsical and silly. But the narrator made it work and I couldn’t wait to get into my car and listen to it to know what was going to happen next. The narrator and of course the characters. From Becky to her BFF Rocher, I loved and adored this book from start to end.
This book was never on my radar, which is actually really weird to say. Between various internet websites, listservs, being at my library, my used book store, working at a library, it is hard to say that this book wasn’t on my radar. But it wasn’t, and then I went to the ALA YALSA breakfast and I met Paul Rudnick. His passionate speech about his book put it on my radar. I quickly wrote down his name and this book and couldn’t wait to read it. And then I read my friends reviews and I found out that this book fell into two camps: you love it/you hate it.
I am pretty firmly in camp love. Adore. Becky’s narration is spot on epic and it isn’t typical YA narration. She is snarky, she has a mouth on her and she isn’t afraid to use it. I found her to be a completely realistic, particularly for what was going on in her life: something completely UN-realistic. I found her humor to be a lot like mine. It’s quirky. You’re either going to love it or hate it. Much like Becky herself. There were times I wanted to slap her and tell her to figure her shit out and then I remembered being 18. Being 18 is hard enough. Being 18, having your mother just die, and leaving middle of nowhere Missouri for New York City is a change.
At first, Becky is given this red dress, this red dress that doesn’t make her feel different at all. Then she hears the gasps and she looks into the mirror and notices how “beautiful” she is. At that exact moment she decided she is “Rebecca” of course with her inner dialogue we, the reader, knows she is still Becky, not full of the confidence she exudes.
I enjoyed the bits of Becky being Rebecca, because inside she was constant “WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON” and that, to me, was extremely realistic. It was stupid to her that people were treating her differently because she didn’t completely get it. And then Jate entered the picture. Jate, the famous movie star who asks her to be part of his picture and to be his girlfriend. Because Jate has a secret of his own. So they work with each other. Through Jate and the magic dress, Becky is able to meet Prince Gregory, the future King of England.
Prince Gregory, who Becky, not Rebecca, starts to fall in love with. It’s hard to tell who Gregory is falling in love with. Is he falling in love with Rebecca, the beautiful girl, or Becky the snarky personality. This of course comes to a pivotal moment in the book, in which Becky figures important things out for herself.
To me, this book worked in part due to the narrator. I am not sure I could have handled reading it because it was that whimsical and silly. But the narrator made it work and I couldn’t wait to get into my car and listen to it to know what was going to happen next. The narrator and of course the characters. From Becky to her BFF Rocher, I loved and adored this book from start to end.
Will be published April 30, 2013, ARC from ALA.
This book was a hot mess!! Terrible dialog, and so overly descriptive is was painful. The premise was cool, but it just didn't work. The 'magic' was never really explained and while it is cool to see a person go from rags to riches, Rebecca/Becky never seemed to learn anything from her experience and it made me wonder why it happened to her in the first place. I wanted this to be funny/clever like Libba Bray's 'Beauty Queens' but it just never came together.
Summary: When Becky Randle's mother dies, she's whisked from her trailer park home to New York. There she meets Tom Kelly, the world's top designer, who presents Becky with an impossible offer: He'll design three dresses to transform the very average Becky into the most beautiful woman who ever lived.
Soon Becky is remade as Rebecca - pure five-alarm hotness to the outside world and an awkward mess of cankles and split ends when she's alone. With Rebecca's remarkable beauty as her passport, soon Becky's life resembles a fairy tale. She stars in a movie, VOGUE calls, and she starts to date Prince Gregory, heir to the English throne. That's when everything crumbles. Because Rebecca aside, Becky loves him. But the idea of a prince looking past Rebecca's blinding beauty to see the real girl inside? There's not enough magic in the world.
This book was a hot mess!! Terrible dialog, and so overly descriptive is was painful. The premise was cool, but it just didn't work. The 'magic' was never really explained and while it is cool to see a person go from rags to riches, Rebecca/Becky never seemed to learn anything from her experience and it made me wonder why it happened to her in the first place. I wanted this to be funny/clever like Libba Bray's 'Beauty Queens' but it just never came together.
Summary: When Becky Randle's mother dies, she's whisked from her trailer park home to New York. There she meets Tom Kelly, the world's top designer, who presents Becky with an impossible offer: He'll design three dresses to transform the very average Becky into the most beautiful woman who ever lived.
Soon Becky is remade as Rebecca - pure five-alarm hotness to the outside world and an awkward mess of cankles and split ends when she's alone. With Rebecca's remarkable beauty as her passport, soon Becky's life resembles a fairy tale. She stars in a movie, VOGUE calls, and she starts to date Prince Gregory, heir to the English throne. That's when everything crumbles. Because Rebecca aside, Becky loves him. But the idea of a prince looking past Rebecca's blinding beauty to see the real girl inside? There's not enough magic in the world.
This was funny. I had a hard time suspending disbelief for most of it though. Eh.
Overall I enjoyed it very much. I initially flat out rejected this book based on the dumb premise. I find any level of focus on celebrity culture, beauty, and fashion is too much...and so tiresome. I did grab it to read a few times for lack of something else (and because, let's face it, the David Sedaris endorsement on the front cover), and ended up falling into it. Don't get me wrong, it is totally absurd and frustrating at times. Although, funny, clever, and very very entertaining won out in the end. Hence the 4 stars!
So I couldn't finish this book. Normally I give books that I can't finish only 1 star but I actually really liked the premise and I'd been really interested when I saw the author speak about it in a webinar...I just couldn't get into it. So since I thought the potential was there and thought the writing was good I rated it up a bit more than I normally would. I might even try picking it up again in the future.
While I love Paul Rudnick's plays, this YA novel falls short of his magic. It's an interesting take on inner vs. outer beauty, but I'm not sure if it's stating anything new.
So I've met the author and I love him but WOW such a bad book. I really wanted to like it too. It's just that it was so predictable and unrelateable, the only redeeming quality was the few moments of comedic relief.
The humor and the social commentary reminds me of Bray's Beauty Queens. I enjoyed this one and experienced a few laugh out loud moments, but I feel like it dragged on at times.
I would rate it 3.5/3.75
I would rate it 3.5/3.75
This is such a fun book. It's been about six years since I last read it, and it held up really well. The first forty pages were a bit iffy, but it really hits its stride after that and only gets better from there. It's fun, hilarious, heart wrenching, and well written. It's just a bit trashy and ridiculous, but has enough heart that you can really love it. Becky (and Rebecca) are one hell of a time, and this would make an entertaining movie. Definitely recommended!
Spoiler
Also, I absolutely love her parents, and her best friend is a hoot!
this book... i can't even convince myself to finish it. the plot sounded interesting but it is so over descriptive it is painful. the number of times you see the word like or as if on a page is painful. was this book edited at all?